THE FIRST KEY: SHARE ACCURAT EINFORMATION WITH EVERYONE
ASHORT TIME later, Michael found his way to the billing response center that served the company’s larger customers. Robert had suggested they meet there to get a firsthand look at the operation.
Michael was surprised that it appeared to be a fairly standard-looking operation, with the same kind of computers his own company used. The people even looked the same, except perhaps a little more engaged but also relaxed—almost like they were having fun. But at this point he didn’t know what to expect, so he decided to just try to take it all in and learn. That was why he was there, after all.
A young man approached him. “Hi, I’m Robert Borders. You must be the executive Amelia called me about. What can I do for you?”
“I just finished talking with Sandy Fitzwilliam, and now I need to talk with some people in your company about empowerment. But even though empowering people is my goal, I’m skeptical. I’ve tried to institute empowerment with my company, and, frankly, I haven’t seen much change. But I’m beginning to think we may have gone about it incorrectly—maybe I don’t even know what real empowerment is, much less how to create a culture of empowerment.”
“How long have you been at it?” Robert asked.
“Six months,” said Michael.
Robert nodded. “All people have doubts at the beginning. But that shouldn’t be surprising. They’re being asked to buy into something on faith. Not only have they had little or any experience with being empowered; in many cases they’ve been unempowered. Also in the beginning they don’t know how the process is going to work. They have no sense of WIIFM.”
“What’s WIIFM?”
“What’s-In-It-For-Me. You can’t blame people for being skeptical. Enough flavor-of-the-month programs have come and gone for people to believe that this is just another one of them. That was certainly the attitude here. And many of the younger members of the company have seen a big shift in the implicit contract between companies and their people—they have grown up with layoffs and have a built-in doubt of what company leaders say.
“In fact, when Sandy started telling us that her goal was to build an organization of colleagues where everybody’s potential would be used, we thought it was just another line to get more work out of us, and for what reason, we thought.”
“Hmm,” Michael mused. “That could explain why people aren’t acting empowered in my company. Beliefs change slowly, especially when there’s a cloud of doubt, huh?”
“It takes time. At first, we didn’t believe Sandy knew what she was talking about. Even if she was sincere, we doubted it could work. But now, we know she was right,” Robert added. “And it’s not just that people feel better. We’re much more effective and efficient than we were before. We feel better about ourselves, our leaders, and our company. We feel a real sense of ownership and empowerment.”
“Well, talk is cheap,” Michael said, impatiently. He was irritated by the obvious satisfaction Robert felt with his department. Then he asked, “How did you get where you are today? Something must have happened to release all that energy. It didn’t just. . . .”
“Information,” interrupted Robert, “accurate and timely information.”
“Information?” Michael echoed. “But what kind? Don’t people already have lots of information available through technology systems?”
“Of course they do,” said Robert, “but what they need most is information about how the business is doing—profits, costs, budgets, market share, productivity, defects, and so on. You want to share accurate information that can be used for making good business decisions in a timely manner, the same information you as a manager use to make decisions.”
Robert took a little card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Michael:
THE FIRST KEY
Share accurate information with everyone.
“I don’t get it,” said Michael. “Share detailed information about company performance throughout the organization? That sounds risky. What if the information paints a bad picture for the company? Wouldn’t that lead to chaos or anarchy? I can’t imagine doing that in my company. And further, I think that many others would be very uncomfortable doing it. Some information just cannot be shared with everyone.”
“Then you can’t create an empowered organization,” replied Robert. He paused for emphasis and then said, “I’m going to tell you something. I know you’re a CEO, a president and all, and perhaps if I didn’t have Sandy as an example I’d hesitate to say this because of respect for your position. But that’s the trouble right there—the perceived difference in people’s positions that hangs over from the old hierarchical mind-set and assumptions. That perceived division between ‘superior’ and ‘subordinate’ is no longer very useful in business organizations. In fact, it works directly counter to success. Success today depends on team effort. And we have all the technology we need to engage people in the business. But our assumptions limit its use—it sure did here in the beginning.” Robert paused.
Michael crossed his arms and stared at Robert. This conversation is just not very helpful, he thought. But after a few more moments of silence, he nodded for Robert to continue.
“You can walk out of here,” said Robert slowly, never taking his eyes off Michael. “You can deny what I’m saying until you’re blue in the face. But the fact remains that those leaders who are unwilling to share accurate and detailed performance information with their people will never have their people as partners in running the company successfully and will never have an empowered organization. This act of sharing information about the business and its markets is absolutely crucial to empowering people to act like entrepreneurs in an organization. That’s why it’s the first key.”
“You’re asking for a major shift in thinking— almost a lobotomy,” said Michael with an uncomfortable laugh.
“I know it,” said Robert. “Every leader has to fight the battle against habit and tradition in the depths of his or her own heart. Each leader has to make a leap of faith. The most crucial place the shift has to occur is inside you.”
“It certainly would be a big first step for me,” said Michael emphatically.
“And why wouldn’t it be?” asked Robert. “You happen to be one of those managers who’s caught in what we call the ‘big left turn.’”
“What’s the big left turn?” asked Michael.
“It’s the huge, all-encompassing collapse of traditional boundaries that’s taking place due to the sudden explosion of information. Information is bringing down walls all over the world. It’s happening in all of our institutions at once, and it can be very scary.
“Communication barriers like the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, and apartheid began to crumble long before anyone made the collapse official. Why? The flow of information could not be controlled any longer, no matter how hard anyone tried.”
“And the explosive growth of Internet use during the 1990s has made the flow of information even more uncontrollable,” Michael mused. “People have access to all sorts of information about their companies, as well as the markets and events that will shape the future in which the companies must operate.”
“Right,” Robert agreed. “People can obtain all kinds of information, so it is all the more important that we make available accurate and timely information about our companies. And it is hard for managers to take the risk to share so much information. They are afraid of violating HR or legal or stock exchange rules, and I believe they are afraid of losing control. Sharing all information, even sensitive information, takes courage. But don’t wait around for it to feel good to you. Just take a leap of faith and do it. It’ll feel good later on.”
“Just do it,” Michael repeated. “But what about privileged information?”
“What do you mean by ‘privileged information’?” asked Robert.
“You know—guarded information; known to a few; only certain people can have it; it’s sensitive,” explained Michael.
“Let me ask you,” said Robert, “how would you feel if you were one of the people on the ‘outside’ who was denied access to the privileged information, particularly when you knew the information was only a computer keystroke away?”
That caught Michael off guard. He hesitated for a moment and then smiled. “I’d feel pretty ticked off and left out, among other things. It would support any doubts I had about managers.”
“I bet you would feel ticked off,” laughed Robert. “Withholding information carries all kinds of messages. It makes people think, ‘I’m not in the know. They don’t trust me. They think I’d do bad things with the information if I knew it. They think I’m too dumb to understand it,’ and so forth.”
“People don’t feel trusted,” Michael reiterated. He was starting to understand the importance of sharing accurate and timely information.
Robert nodded. “On the other hand, there’s no better way to show people that you trust them than to share sensitive information. Information about this company used to be private and unavailable to most of us. When Sandy began sharing performance information, like margins, profitability, costs of losing customers, and so forth, she sent a very strong signal to everyone that she trusted us; that she wanted us to use our knowledge and talents to help the business succeed.”
“So you’re saying that trust is crucial for an empowered organization.”
Robert nodded enthusiastically. “And if people throughout the organization don’t feel trusted, effective decision making grinds to a halt. People don’t feel empowered, and therefore they don’t act empowered. You see,
People without accurate information cannot act responsibly.
People with accurate information feel compelled to act responsibly.
“That’s beginning to make sense to me,” muttered Michael.
“It’s the heart of the matter!” said Robert.
“People without accurate information cannot monitor themselves or make sound decisions. People with accurate information can and want to act.”
Michael began thinking about his own organization. He realized that people at his company did not have the information to really understand the business and its performance results. Nor did they operate with a basic sense of trust. He was beginning to grasp the idea that sharing privileged information, like Sandy did with her colleagues, could help people be more responsible and also start them on the road to building a strong sense of trust.
As he was thinking, Michael suddenly got a blinding flash of the obvious. He scribbled something on his organizer screen and then looked Robert squarely in the eye. “Of course! What you’re saying is that accurate business information is the currency for responsibility and trust in the Land of Empowerment.”
Robert smiled and nodded. “Every leader wants responsible and trustworthy people in the organization. But stop and think: How do you go about developing responsible, trustworthy people? There’s only one way.”
“You trust them with complete and accurate information,” Michael said.
“And that means action, not words or smiles,” said Robert. “You’ve got to show you trust them by sharing all kinds of information—even sensitive information. Have you talked a lot about empowering people in your company?”
“We sure have—and with no results to show for it!”
“The same thing happened to us,” said Robert.
“When we began talking about empowerment several years ago, that’s all it was—just talk. Nobody really believed anything would happen. We all felt it was just the latest fad, or worse just another management trick. One of my associates who has been around the company for many years said, ‘Just wait—this too shall pass.’
“Sandy kept going around saying things like, ‘You gotta believe that the magic happens where the workforce is.’ But we didn’t know if she and the other managers really meant it. It wasn’t until she began to share information with everyone that we really started to believe. The sharing of what had once been confidential information about performance, profits, true market share, and such, made us realize that this was a safe place for us to think and use our real talents and knowledge.”
Michael looked again at the card Robert had given him. “I’m beginning to see the real reason behind this first key. Information sharing to me was always purely functional—you know, linked to people’s functions in the organization. So when you gave me this card, one of the reasons I resisted was not understanding why people needed more information to do their jobs. It seems with our computer systems that they already have lots of information—maybe sometimes so much that it overwhelms them. But now I realize that what they need is accurate, complete, and timely information about our company and its business performance measures. If they are to become responsible and to feel trusted, they need the same information I have and use!”
“That’s it!” exclaimed Robert.
“But what about goals?” sighed Michael.
“Throughout my career I’ve always understood that goal setting should be first. If information comes first, where do goals fit in?”
Robert smiled and said, “I was waiting for you to ask that, because everyone does. Goals are still very important.”
“In most organizations goals are established at the top and then handed down. People feel no commitment to them because they haven’t been involved in establishing them. I think you can sense how that wouldn’t work in an empowered organization. To break down the traditional hierarchical belief that all the ‘brains’ are at the top of the organization, you have to start building trust first. Once information sharing takes place, and people have begun the journey together toward the Land of Empowerment, then goal setting takes on real meaning.”
“So basically, you’re telling me to wait and see,” Michael said.
“That’s right,” Robert agreed. “Remember, information sharing is only the first step on the journey. I’d like to tell you more, but I’ve got to get back to an urgent project right now. Why don’t you talk to some of my other colleagues about the additional keys to empowering people? Janet Wo over in Inventory Processing is someone I’ve worked with a lot. I happen to know that Janet has a meeting this afternoon, but let me call her and see if she’ll meet with you tomorrow morning.”
Robert set up a meeting for 8 A.M. the next day. Michael left the building, his mind racing with thoughts about the sharing of accurate, complete, and timely information. When he reached the parking lot he sat in his car for a while, summarizing in his electronic organizer what he had learned:
Sharing Accurate Information with Everyone
- Is the first key in empowering people and organizations
- Lets people understand the current situation in clear terms
- Begins to build trust throughout the organization
- Breaks down traditional hierarchical thinking
- Helps people be more responsible
- Encourages people to act like owners of the organization
As he drove home, Michael thought about how the new things he had learned clashed with his former beliefs and attitudes. I wonder what the other keys are, he thought. And will they be as big a surprise as the first one was?